Seven Basic Quality Management Tools

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Seven Basic Quality tools documents

Definition of Quality Management -- it is a method for ensuring that all the activities necessary to design, develop and implement a
product or service are effective and efficient with respect to the system and its performance. It is also a principle set by the company
to endure the continuous advocacy of quality services and products, or the further improvement of it.

Welcome to QT-charts knowledge base section.
Hopefully you will find some of them useful in your work. (Read articles below to learn more.)

Maureen
O’TormeyOISM
470W, Sec. 2

Original
text on www.freequality.org

Design for Reuse

Products are designed, produced and then
bought by the end-user, or customer.This is a cycle that flows continuously within a company, product after
product.But, did you ever wonder what
happens to the product after the customer is through with it?Most often the product is just thrown away
and dumped in some landfill where it will eventually harm the environment and
the future of generations to come.Here
is where the design for reuse concept comes into play.

Design for reuse is exactly what it
sounds like.It is basically when a
product is designed in a way that it can eventually be recycled or reused to
manufacture more products.It is a
rather simple concept that began in Germany under their “green manufacturing” project.This was a sort of guideline for companies to base their product designs
after.These guidelines told companies
to manufacture products so that they were safer for the environment.Germany started this green manufacturing by
making packaging requirements for importers.This began a mini life cycle for products, which consisted of design for
reuse, design for disassembly, and design for remanufacture.These three concepts all have to do with
designing products in a way that they can be easily taken apart and reused in
making new products.

The concept of design for reuse is used
heavily in countries outside of the U.S., but is slowly beginning to grow
within it.Not only is this concept
valuable to the environment, but it also has many other benefits that help the
company that is using it.Inventory
costs will decrease because a component of the design for reuse concept is
manufacturing products with fewer parts.And with fewer parts, there is less inventory
to store and as a result a decrease in inventory costs.Also, the costs of waste disposal will
decline because the company will be reusing more parts and not be throwing away
as much.Another benefit to the company
is that design for reuse causes shorter product design cycles.This means that products can be made at a
quicker rate and can be brought to the market to be sold a lot sooner than if
using all new parts to produce the product.Consequently, the company’s profits will increase.So as you can see, not only is design for
reuse beneficial to the environment, but it also helps decrease costs incurred
during production and increase profits.

To use the design for reuse concept,
designers need to be able to look ahead into the future when they are deciding
how to design a product.They have to
think about the entire useful life of the product at the beginning of the
design cycle.The reason for this is
that this concept is a critical part of how a company is going to construct its
products and what materials they will need to use.Products must be designed so that they can be
quickly and easily taken apart and used in the production of another
product.Also at the beginning of the
design cycle, some sort of guidelines should be made on how to properly
disassemble the product and create another one.Design for reuse has a lot of planning involved in terms of what is most
cost beneficial to the company and what is not.It can be a very time consuming project but once more and more designers
are trained to think in terms of the future and the significant cost benefits
to the company, this time commitment will shorten and eventually the benefits
will keep growing as designer experience rises.

Design for reuse, along with design for
disassembly, are becoming standard in Europe and in many countries besides the
U.S.In the U.S., many companies are
seeing resistance from the customers for products made with reusable
parts.Many customers want products to
be produced with brand new parts only, because they feel that reusable and
recyclable parts make products somehow less complete in terms of quality.Some customers also believe that products
with new parts will function better and will last a longer time before breaking.This negative thinking needs to be turned
around especially if companies want the design for reuse concept to grow in the
U.S.

Companies from all different industries
use the design for reuse concept, so it is not specific to only certain
products.For example, you can go from
the automobile making business to computers and cameras and you will find
companies that use this concept.In
1994, the big three in the car industry: GM, Chrysler, and Ford, began the
Vehicle Recycling Development Center (VRDC).This was formed to find more ways to disassemble and reuse car
parts.Once a car completes its life
cycle, they are stripped of their unique and valuable parts, which are then
sold to be used again.The main frame of
the car, which is made of metal is smashed into small pieces and sent to the
steel-makers for the ultimate reuse of the steel.There are still problems with the VRDC, however it is a well-needed start for design for
reuse.

Kodak is another company who has
succeeded in using the design for reuse concept.They do this in particular with their product
line of disposable cameras.Kodak
designed their disposable cameras in a way that they could reuse them to make
future cameras.They are easily
disassembled and reused.This has made
Kodak friendlier to the environment.

In the computer industry, both Dell and
IBM reuse parts for future computers.Both use special buttons and fasteners, which IBM calls darts, that make
it easy for computers to be taken apart.They also use as few screws as possible so that the time to disassemble
the product is shortened.The reuse of
intellectual property (IP) and system-on-a-chip (SoC) methodology is on the
rise in the computer industry.Chip
designers are beginning to work on SoC projects where they reuse the basic
setup of the chip.This saves the
company and designers a lot of time.The
trouble is trying to encourage designers to think in terms of reuse.Many designers want to create more impressive
products, and they often fail to consider reusing components.Today IP and SoC can be reused within the
company, however many companies have found it more profitable to purchase these
things externally.

To learn more about design for reuse,
there are several places to look.DFE,
which stands for Design for Environment, is a great software tool that
companies can use to evaluate and improve their environmental and economical
aspects of their product designs.DFE
helps to reduce the end of useful life costs and increase benefits.Also, www.designreuse.com and www.rapid.org
are websites where information about product reuse and suppliers of these
products can be found.And finally,
Qualis offers a reuse guide online to help companies develop and reuse parts
for SoC design.They will also consult
with companies on these matters.

Design for reuse is a concept that many
industries and companies are using.Reusing components of one product to help manufacture another one is
safer for the environment and also benefits companies by decreasing inventory
costs, increasing time-to-market and increasing profits.Design for reuse works for many products and
has been quite effective in the real world.With the benefits to the environment and the company, this concept will
continue to grow throughout all industries of the world.